This file is a collection of various messages having a
common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer
networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's
Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at:
http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having
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<<< Following more than one thread
here. Congratulations to the victors of

Siege Cookery! I have judged it before and hoo
doggies, that is a LOT of

work and discussion to decide amongst even two
complete presentations.

Three were nearly impossible, and I had to say
I was relived that no other

kingdoms entered. [We did come up with an
Inter-Kingdom Stupid Peer

Trick... but that's another story.]
>>>

Date: Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:06:04 -0600

From: "Kathleen A Roberts" <karobert at unm.edu>

To: SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Food type results from Grand
Outlandish

This past weekend went pretty well for food type things at

Grand Outlandlish. The weather was pretty agreeable, and

although the traditional dusty, it was a nice event. Here

is what I participated in this weekend.

CLASS

<snip>

SIEGE COOKING - THE FREAKIN' WHEATBERRIES WIN!!!!!

That was the name of our team... the Freakin'

Wheatberries... from an ingredient none of us had ever

used, eaten or even seen before. Whenever we would go

over what we had done and needed to do, the wheatberries

very quickly became the F)*&#$ wheatberries. We
cleaned

it up for the competition. ;)

It was a very odd mix of foods and style, but was fun and

challenging. We got a box of "staples" and got
to go to

the "market" for five other items, none of them
replicated

at the market or in the box. You could use one item from

your camp. The theme for Outlandish was the Portugese in

Japan, so we had cross cultural ingredients. Fortunately,

items were labeled in the box and market.

In the box: flour, salt, pepper, eggs, brown rice,

wheatberries, fresh herbs (chives, oregano, marjoram,

rosemary and sage), cane vinegar, rice vinegar, olive oil,

butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, chicken (cut up already),

salt pork, potatoes, onions, apples, cone sugar, rice

noodles, won ton wrappers, garlic and a bit of feta

cheese.

From the market I got: cubed lamb, eggplant and string

beans (didn't know the beans were in there til I opened

the bag all the way), cinnamon, cherries and leeks.

From camp: whiskey (my team was daytripping, and connor

and i were eating sammies and out of cans, so not much to

work with there).

Later that day: bok choy (one team did not show, so the

folks presenting the competition came around (about two

hours before judging) and we had to take one thing from

the box, either replicating what you had or something

different)

Schitzophrenic, no?

My team (Lord Rosario, Lord Tehran and myself) made a

little taste of East Meets West. We made: Sliced Teryaki

Chicken Breast over Won Ton Noodles dressed with rice

vinegar, soy and chive flowers --- Stir fried Chicken w/

string beans and bok choy over Fried Rice --- Stir Fried

Eggplant with Cubed Salt Pork over Rice Noodles --- Lamb

and Leek Stew with Potatoes and Herbs (all the herbs) ---

Flat Bread --- Carmelized Onions and Apples --- Apples and

Cherries w/ Whiskey Butter Sauce and (%*&#%^ at )

Wheatberries --- Sweet Pan-Fried Pastry with Feta Cinnamon

Spread.

Yes, Feta and Cinnamon Spread. We had no idea what to do

with feta (less than 1/4 cup) and flashing on an old

"Chopped" episode where someone mixed goat
cheese and a

sweetener, I decided to mix the feta, cone sugar and

cinnamon for a dessert spread. It was FANTASTIC!!! A

little savory, a little sweet, savory, sweet... really

interesting.

I had lamb and eggplant, and the first thing I did was

seperate them, as I thought the Greek way too obvious.

And I always loved the Sechzuan eggplant/minced pork dish

in one of my cookbooks. People who hate eggplant liked

it.

We only had two burners, and we still finished a half hour

early.

All in all, lots of fun. Only three points seperated

first and second place, and three points second from

third. It was the first experience for the number two

team.

Now on to siege cooking at Battlemoor during July 4

weekend. I am hosting this time, assisted by fellow

wheatberry Lord Tehran.

Cailte

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:02:38 -0600

From: "Kathleen A Roberts" <karobert at unm.edu>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Siege Cooking at Battlemoor

On Fri, 4 Jun 2010 02:36:49 -0500

Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
wrote:

<<< Hasn't the emphasis for all these siege
cooking contests

always been on fun and food? How is having an emphasis on

fun and food this year any different from in the past?
>>>

well, some of the competitions i have been involved with

were heavy on the ambiance in your camp for the judges,

and very secretive of ingredients and theme. this is

fine, but sometimes hauling all your cookbooks, pots and

pans, candlesticks, rugs, pillows, good feast gear was

frustrating. i don't know about you guys, but i am seeing

fewer locals taking trailers to war, and packing as good

as they can in the old pickup. excess load = excess fuel.

so, the idea is that you have some idea what you are

getting into, and can pack accordingly. the central

judging area allows audience participation AND the teams

don't have to set up an eating area in their camp.

<<< Have all the teams generally been able to
work past

'surprise' ingredients into their presentations? Is it a

requirement that they do so? or does it just gain you

additional points? >>>

it was all a surprise in my experience. theme and

ingredients. you always need to use everything given you,

no matter how little, to get full points for use of

ingredients. but if you know ahead of time the basket

will contain ... oh, let's say... poulty, meat with bone,

root veggies, dried fruit, lentils, sweet spices, dried

herbs, berries... then you can start thinking of recipes

and methods of cooking, and leave more of the day for the

actual prepping and cooking. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean

you won't get some salt pork, walnuts and cone sugar that

morning along with what you already know. those will need

to be incorporated as well.

the coordinators of battlemoor wanted to focus on

hospitality and fun. therefore, i thought it might be

interesting to see how a siege cooking contest would work

if everything wasn't such a huge secret and some of the

hassle was gone.

BTW... i only have one spot available. i got three hits

yesterday alone.

cailte

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:30:48 -0600

From: "Kathleen A Roberts" <karobert at unm.edu>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Siege Cooking at Battlemoor

Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:

<<< Actually on Iron Chef, the cooks have long
been given a

list of possible ingredients. It's not a total surprise.
>>>

true. and part of the idea came from Mistress Aldyth,

defining "combat cooking" when you don't know
what you

have, and "siege cooking" where you know just
what you

have in your pantry since the siege began.

cailte

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:05:52 -0700 (PDT)

From: Raphaella DiContini <raphaellad at yahoo.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] siege cooking ingredient ideas
sought

The format that I've seen Fiamma using lately and I've
enjoyed the most out of all my years of playing with siege cooking is giving
them a specific historical recipe, and letting them pick the ingredients needed
(which you would have brought) and give them a couple of hours to cook it and
bring it back. You can have two levels of difficulty, e.g. a more complex main
dish and a sauce, and have the advanced entrants cook either the more complex,
or both. I've also enjoyed that all the entrants come back with their entries
and entry forms to be judged all together so they all get a chance to see &
taste how others interpreted the same recipe, and get one vote for each
category.

I think this helps teach them more about historical
cooking, demistifies the redaction process and makes it much easier from a
judging standpoint.

So the long answer to a short question is that I love
picking a recipe and letting that determine the needed ingredients. :)

<<< Would any one knowledgable with this
competition be able to enlighten me? What are the rules? Food-is it given or
just a list any you must provide? Cost, who bears that? Was it divisioned by
Kingdom to produce the champions and then head to head competition from there?
Does it resemble the "Choppered" series on food.network? Because you
have 24 hours to figure things out, is it be from a cook book or is it from your
best memory recipe?

Severin >>>

I think I can answer all of those questions:

The Siege Cooking Competition was sponsored by a Cooking
Laurel from the East and she and a few of her friends acted as judges.

She provided the ingredients which we picked up each
evening at 5:00 p.m. and then had 24 hours to prepare a meal based on the
ingredients provided. We could only add to the ingredients water, a period
herb or spice, nothing else. Any unused portions of the ingredients were to be
returned.

The judging was based on the following criteria:

1. Historical Accuracy

2. Were the dishes from the
correct Country of Origin based on ingredients provided

3. Complexity of Dishes presented

4. How well did you use the
ingredients given and how much waste did you have

5. Appearance

6. Taste

7. Overall Presentation

I hadn't planned to do this and entered the competition on
a whim (so glad I brought a small stove and that there was a general store on
sight where I could purchase some pans) There were 6 participants in total and
we were broken up into two groups. The winners of each group then went head to
head in a Champion Siege Battle. I was the winner for the second group and
then also won the champion battle.

I can tell you that the judges were hard and they
dissected each element. The ingredients for the second siege I had Chicken,
Pork Tenderloin, 1 small box grapes, 2 packages of peas,1 stick butter,
Manchego Cheese, Scallions, 1 small box Strawberries, a single plantain, and
Broccoli Rob.

I presented: A beverage made from reducing the grapes,
adding mint, water and sugar served over ice, Pea soup which I made by making a
chicken stock from the fat of the chicken and adding herbs and some rendered
fat from the pork tenderloin, a strawberry and mint compote, served with fresh
grapes, whole strawberries and a few slices of the Manchego Cheese, the Pork
Tenderloin I stuffed with herbs and the Manchego cheese and scallions then
pan-fried, the chicken was also fried and then served with a sauce made from a
grape reduction, the broccoli rob was parboiled and then fried with butter and
herbs, the plantain was sliced and fried in butter with spices. My waste was
little and I returned to her: 1 bag of peas, 1/4 stick of butter, several
strawberries, 1 bunch of grapes, 1/2 of the scallions she gave me.